CONTENTS

..............The Keys to Life and Death        

..............Five Models  

CHAPTER TWO   ROMANCING THE CUSTOMER WITH SUPERIOR SERVICE        

..............The First "Date"        

..............Maintaining the Relationship        

..............Customer Abuse        

..............The Essentials of Service        

..............The Mindset of a Service Professional        

..............Barriers of Service  

CHAPTER THREE SHOW TIME!        

..............On Stage        

..............Curtain Call        

..............Acting School  

CHAPTER FOUR  LEADERSHIP        

..............Leaders Get the Job Done         

..............Leaders Build Dynamic Relationships

..............Leaders Are Principled

..............Leaders Are Flexible

..............Leaders Produce

..............Leaders Are Thinkers

..............Leaders for the Future

CHAPTER FIVE  TEAMWORK

..............Characteristics of a High Performance Team

..............The Necessary Attributes

..............Preventing Breakdowns

..............Decision Making  

CHAPTER SIX   READING YOUR CUSTOMER'S MIND        

..............The Gift of Criticism        

..............Solving Problems

CHAPTER SEVEN
   
 SIXTEEN KEYS FOR MANAGEMENT SUCCESS

1. Emphasize Intangibles

2. Be Obsessed with Listening and Communicating

3. We Must Reward and Encourage Innovation

4. Involve Everyone in Everything

5. Simplify and Reduce Internal Bureaucracy

6. Manage, lead and Work by Example

7. Practice Visible Management and Management-by-Wandering

8. Create a Sense of Urgency

9. Practice and Demand Total Integrity

10. Display a Positive Attitude at All Times

11. Be Honest at All Times 12. Publicly Acknowledge Earned Recognition

13. Remove Some Controls, While Retaining Accountability

14. We Have to Support Our Employees and Support Each Other

15. Be a Daily Coach

16. Train, Train, Train and Retrain

INTRODUCTION

With the coming of the Superior Customer Service Revolution, providing our customers and clients with "good service" is no longer good enough. We must offer people service that leaves them in awe of how they were cared for and served, or we will be summarily fired. Yes, "fired." Just as we would fire an employee who utterly failed to meet corporate standards, if we do not live up to their ever-increasing level of expectations, our customers will fire us. Place yourself in the customer' shoes. While standing at the cash register, waiting to pay for your new MP3 player, the young man who is supposed to be serving you is on the phone talking to his girlfriend about last night's argument. You are invisible. What is your response? Knowing that you can get superior service elsewhere, you will leave the device on the counter and walk away. Statistics reveal that you will also tell no less than 20 people about your horrid experience. Your customers or clients will do the same thing to you, if you fail to deliver superior service. Using words like "quality service," "integrity" and "excellence" in our marketing material and on the marquee's means nothing, if we are not obsessed with seeing to it that our customers actually are receiving "superior service" on a daily basis. If we are not living up to our advertising then we should stop using the words until we are-or we will be fired for false advertising. In today's marketplace, the customer is incredibly sophisticated as to what can be expected from us. With almost a religious fervor, our customers devour Consumer Reports, they pour over multiple Internet sites and they listen daily to consumer advocate Clark Howard speak about how poor customer service has become and what can be done about it. Sadly, they are often more aware of what is being provided by our competitors then we are! You can't fool these people: not for long, anyway. Give them the superior service they believe they are paying for, or they will go elsewhere. Superior service leads to increased profits, while the pathetic standard of "good service" will leave us with dwindling profits. Is there really any choice here? Not if we intend to stay in business and grow. How is it that superior service increases our profits? Among other reasons, it does so by increasing customer loyalty. A customer who is thrilled by the service you provide, will remain a customer. We all know that retaining customers is far less expensive than going out and finding new customers. Providing superior service cannot simply be a secondary issue or the "soft side" of business or something that we can take or leave. When push comes to shove, it is all about superior profits. Superior employee retention does not happen merely by putting up posters with catchy sayings that we hope will inspire our employees. Neither does it take place by giving a rousing speech at the annual corporate picnic about the priority of taking care of clients and customers. To provide superior service, we must establish superior teams. However, we cannot establish superior teams, without providing superior leadership. That is what this book is all about. The Superior Customer Service Revolution In this revolution, a leader is that individual who, by example, encourages such high levels of commitment and dedication among the entire staff, so that everyone in the corporation drives themselves to greater heights of productivity and quality, on behalf of the customer. Leaders hold themselves to higher standards and in doing so inspire everyone around them. Leaders in this revolution do not simply talk to others about providing superior service: it is their motto, their mantra, and their daily mission. They take it as their personal responsibility to establish a superior service culture within their organization. Every action, every decision and every behavior demonstrates their commitment to establishing a culture that is obsessed with exceeding the customer's desires and expectations. In a private meeting with Stephen Covey, I mentioned something about managing people. He graciously and respectfully reached over and patted me on the shoulder to interrupt me: "David," he said, "We don't manage people, we manage things and we lead people." A simple and profound distinction that is often lost in teachings on leadership. Making sure that the lights are on, the shelves are full, and that there is sufficient staff available to get the job done:-this is managing. Teaching, coaching and inspiring people to accomplish their tasks in a superior manner, and repeatedly showing them how what they do relates to caring for "our" customers -this is leading. Leaders care about people. If they discover they don't know something, they go find out. If they realize they need a particular skill, they go learn it. If they see that they need help, they ask for it. Leaders care about the people on the front lines who are daily engaging customers or clients. If the frontline employee is not providing superior service, a wise leader will initially take full responsibility and set about to see where this person needs more training or support. Leaders care about the team: they know that every person on the team is valuable and deserves to be heard, respected and trusted. They also know that they-the leader-cannot provide superior service alone: they need an effective, fully functioning team. Leaders care about their customers. They know that the money people are about to spend represents so many hours or days of hard work. The choice to spend their money and do business with us is an honor-a gift that should not be treated with anything less than a superior service experience whose every action screams, "Thank you for doing business with us." This book will serve as a resource for leaders and will be helpful to the frontline employee or anyone else interested in superior customer service. In fact, we believe that one of the best things a leader can do is see to it that everyone on staff reads this book, and then begin discussing its contents around the water fountain, as well as in team meetings. Seventy-five percent of all people in leadership and management positions say that they have had no training for their position. In other words, three-quarters of all those responsible for helping to lead our businesses are flying blind. They admit that they are clueless as to how to daily lead, train, support and coach those people whom they are supposed to be leading: people whose performances determine the company's success or failure! Here is where the battle for market share is won or lost. This must read book will go along way toward helping you get everyone up to speed, reading off of the same page and moving toward and achieving the same common goal: being a winner in the superior customer service revolution. When you open your doors for business tomorrow, you only have one shot at captivating and retaining your customers. You never get a second chance to take care of the customer right the first time.